Gild (pronounced gild)
(1) To
coat with gold, gold leaf, or a gold-colored substance.
(2) To render
something with a bright, pleasing, or specious aspect; having the color or
appearance of gold.
(3) Smear
with blood; to make red, as with blood (archaic except in historic reference).
(4) To adorn
in some way.
(5) In cooking,
to render some surface with a golden appearance.
(6) To
make appear drunk (now rare).
1300–1350:
From the Middle English gilden & gulden (to gild, to cover with a thin
layer of gold), from the Old English gyldan
(akin to gold) and related to the Old Norse gylla
(to gild), the Old High German ubergulden
(to cover with gold) (the verb from gultham
(gold)) and the Middle High German vergülden,
from the Proto-West Germanic gulþijan,
from the Proto-Germanic gulþijaną,
from gulþą (gold). In historic UK use, the noun gildsman was an alternative spelling of guildsman (a man who is a member of a guild).
1967 Cadillac Eldorado.
The figurative use of gild apparently began in the late sixteenth century. The noun gilding (golden surface produced by gilding (the verb)" was from the mid fifteenth century, the verb pre-dating the form by some two decades. The adjective gilded emerged 1400 as the past participle of the Middle English gilden and by the early fifteenth century was used also as a noun with the sense of "gilding". The noun eldorado entered English in the 1590s from the Spanish El Dorado (the golden one ( the name given in the sixteenth century to the country or city laden with gold believed to lie in the heart of the Amazon jungle)); it was derived from the past participle of dorar (to gild), from Latin deaurare (to gild, to gild over), the construct being de- (probably used here as an intensifier) + aurare (to gild), from aurum (gold). The legend began with the tales of early Spanish explorers and, regarding gold, there would once have been some truth in the story but, in the way of such things, there was embellishment (gilding the story as it were) until Eldorado was thought a city where the “streets were paved with gold” and for two centuries this drew explorers and adventurers.
Therefore,
to be possess'd with double pomp,
To guard a
title that was rich before,
To gild
refined gold, to paint the lily,
To throw a
perfume on the violet,
To smooth
the ice, or add another hue
Unto the
rainbow, or with taper-light
To seek the
beauteous eye of heaven to garnish,
Is wasteful and ridiculous
excess.
The phrase “gilded cell” seems first to have been used in the early 1980s in the US to describe the unusually pleasant conditions (compared with mainstream jails) often afforded to celebrities or the rich who have been sentenced to a form of confinement for some offence. In use, “gilded cell” is applied to those serving sentences “in the community” rather than a jail, often when fitted with that latter-day status symbol, the “ankle bracelet” monitor. In the US, the companion phrase used of those put in federal government jails less unpleasant than most is the usually derisive “Cub Fed” a play on the brand “Club Med”, a well-known chain of all-inclusive beach resorts. Although the conditions in “Club Fed” institutions are more lenient, that really is a relative measure and these remain minimum-security prisons (technically usually styled Federal Prison Camps (FPC) and nothing like a luxury resort; while these prisons do have dormitory housing, minimal perimeter security, and a lower staff-to-inmate ratio, they still enforce strict routines and restrictions, along with recreational and educational programs. Despite the public perception, the the inmate population at Club Fed is said to be quite diverse.
In idiomatic use, the use as “gilded cage” refers to a place (and, by extension, a situation) which is superficially attractive but nevertheless restrictive (a luxurious trap) and appears to have been coined by the writers of the popular song A Bird in a Gilded Cage (1900). In the slang of apothecaries, there was also “gild the pill”, the history of which is murky but it’s said to refer to the ancient practice of coating bitter tasting pills with a thin layer of metal, the modern version of the phrase being “sugarcoat the pill”. The phrase “gilded cage” refers to a situation where someone is in a luxurious or privileged environment but feels trapped or restricted, the image being an elaborate golden cage which is exquisitely made but a cage none the less. Those said to live in gilded cages include (1) celebrities who may enjoy lavish surroundings and many luxuries but exist under the “media spotlight” and lack privacy, (2) those in unhappy marriages with someone rich; while they may have all the material comforts this brings, the relationship may be loveless, sexless and constrained by expectations and limitations imposed by a spouse, (3) those in high paid jobs which they don’t enjoy (or may hate); it may be the long hours, stress or travel but it’s also often the case that expectation of lifestyle (and thus expenses) rise to meet income, thus trapping them in the job, (4) members of royal families who are restricted in what they can say, do or wear and (5) politicians, who may disagree with party platform or a decision of cabinet but are compelled to “toe the line”. The point about the idiomatic “gilded cage” is that at any time, one can escape the confines but to do so means to sacrifice much; it’s all a question of what one wants from life.
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